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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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When a Basque woman becomes a happy mother , the husband takes to his bed , nurses the baby , and receives the visits of friends . The wife gets up , and occupies herself with household duties . This is a reversal of the " natural order of things , " forcing the husband to endure Mrs . Gamp ( we scorn to allude to all that is implied in " the baby ! " ) and depriving the mother Of her natural right to gossip , and pity , and comparison of notes
with other happy mothers , all of whom have " experiences' to relate ; it is an injury to both man and woman , and is a curious illustration of that utter servitude in which woman formerly lived , and from which , even in Europe , she has not wholly emerged . In many points of moral and social philosophy we may learn a lesson from animals , and , above all , in family arrangements . Yet even animals -will get corrupted by civilization . Pet dogs are not good mothers ; and we once had a pet dog , whose natural sense of the fitness of things was so perverted , that when his friend , the white cat , had kittens , he did what the Basque husbands do , turned her out of bed , settled himself there , and nursing the kittens , sat in receipt of our visits and admiration . Pussy looked on wondering .
We learned the fact about Basque husbands from the delightful Souvenirs 3 ' un Naturaliste , by M . QuATHErAGES , of which we observe a translation announced by Messrs . Longman . It is a book which will doubtless be very popular , now that Natural History is becoming " the rage . " One of the most potent causes of this new interest in Natural History , especially of the simpler organisms , is the cheapness of Microscopes , formerly so expensive , when not inferior . The startling revelations of the Microscope , aided by the possibility of even slender purses affording the purchase of one , have given a wide-spread impetus to study . It is no longer the professional Physiologist or Zoologist who occupies himself with the fascinating pursuit : hundreds of amateurs every year join in it . At once as au indication of the increased ardour , and as a means of
fostering it , we must regard the existence of the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science , edited by Dr . Laskester and Prof . Busk ( recently appointed to fill Prof . Owen ' s place at the College of Surgeons ) . This journal , which includes the " Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London , " is valuable , both for the memoirs which it publishes , well illustrated , and for the means it affords of bringing together the results of various observations which , too small to be published separately , here find a proper corner . Among the papers of the present number interesting even to those who never looked through an object-glass , is one by the Rev . J . B . Dennis " On the Existence of Mammifers anterior to the Deposition of the Lias . " Where all is marvellous , it seems idle to mark out any one
point for special wonder , and with the Revelations of the Microscope this is the case . Each point in its turn excites our Oh . ' and thus we run the round of exclamatory enthusiasm . The reader will not refuse his gasp , when he learns how the Microscope can carry the mind back into illimitable ages , with a certainty even greater than that the Telescope can carry the mind forward info illimitable spaces . Mites that we seem , crawling on the earth ' s crust , -we can take up a portion of that crust no bigger than a threepenny piece , and from it read a striking chapter of the earth ' s history , thousands upon millions of years gone by . Nay , here is an admirable clems-, giving to noble science the hours which might have been wasted on ignoble polcmicH , who from microscopic inspection of bones not only proves the
existence of mammalia at ft period when what we called the Lias formation had not been deposited , but suspects that he has discovered a law of osteological development which will bo very important , if confirmed . Mr . Disnnis thinks that in animals which have the power of springing , the bones arc characterized by a preponderance of pointed oval lacunae ; and it is curious in this respect to compare the microscopic structure of the tiger ' s femur with that of the kangaroo , or the frog ' s tibia with that of the newt . The toad agrees very nearly with the frog in this matter , except that the lncunaj are longer , which Mr . Dknnih has noticed in ' climbing animals ; but the newt is quite unlike both . The ovul lacunae are present in birds ; und
the ulna of the flying opossum is very similar to that of birds , though still retaining its mammalian character . Curiously enough the only bird in Mr . Qtjekett ' s book which has not similar lacunsc is tho parrot , a bird tliut never springs . Mr . Dennis multiplies examples , but it secina to us that instead of seeking fresh examples of a direct kind , he should seek those far more conclusive of a negative kind—ho should oxamino birds and animals ¦ which do not spring , and sec if tho absence of oval lacumc is equally constant in them . When oneo the general fact is discovered , the mathematician ¦ will not be long before ho calculates the efl ' cct upon tho strength produced l > y dillbrencu of shape in tho lacumc .
Another paper on tho " Structure of Osoillatorue , " by Dr . I <\ j / Aluukn , ia also interesting , and concludes with some excellent remarks on tho impossibility of separating the puroly vegetable from tho purely animal organisms ; and still more interesting is tho paper by Dr . Gkkooky on tho " Posttertinry Diatomacoous Sand of denshire . " The journal is admirably illustrated , and altogether deserves the attention of ovcry microscopist .
The complaints of the dullness of the book- season grow louder and louder . " It is worste than during the war , " exclaim publishers and critics . Considering the vast quantity of excellent literature still unread , it is not to be deplored that a lull in the publication of scarcely readable books should occur . For our own parts we are very placid under the calamity oi " nothing coming out now . " " JSTo array of terms can tell how much we ar « at peace" about the absence from the advertizing list of the profound
Jenkins , and the impassioned Jones . But there are announcements which change even our indifference into eagerness ; for example we hear , on indubitable authority , that Mrs . Browning has just completed a new poem of modern life , extending to several thousand verses—for that we would relinquish the last new mollusc , for that we would put aside a whole table of new species ! Nay , we hear further , not on such good authority , but nevertheless on authority quite credible , that Tennyson has written a poem of a few hundred lines , which he contemplates publishing separately ; and we hear also that Alexander Smith has a new volume to appear in the autumn . May it be worthy of the promise given by his first !
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THE LOVER'S SEAT . The Lover's Seat . Katheme ' rina or Common Things in Relation to Beauty , Virtue , and Truth . By Kenelm Henry Digby . 2 vols . Longman and Co . We lent the Lover ' s Seat to two lady friends of very different ages , and they assured us it was a " delightful book ; " a fact worth mentioning because it shows that whatever objections may be made to Mr . Digby ' s work from a critical point of view , there is a class of readers with whom it is likely to find acceptance . And since it is every where inspired by rare refinement and moral elevation , since it is obviously the production of a man who is both morally and intellectually more entitled to ask an audience for his opinions than ninety-nine writers out of a hundred , the larger the audience he finds ,
the better . , , ,,. It is now many years since Mr . Kenelm Digby became known to the public through his authorship of the Broad Stone of Honour , and , by the mediaeval enthusiasm manifested in that work , made comprehensible as well as- noteworthy his subsequent conversion to Catholicism . It is desirable to recollect these biographical particulars in connexion with the Lover ' s Seat , because they render all the more remarkable the fine spirit of tolerance and charity which is the strongest characteristic of the book . Converts or " perverts are proverbially virulent , but the author i » one of those exceptional persons who learn by their own variations to tolerate and comprehend the variations of others . . . _
But , setting aside the admirable sentiments by which for ^ a time the Lover ' s Seat throws our critical spirit into abeyance , and measuring the book simply by the demands of literary art , we are obliged to say that it is deficient in some most important requisites . The writer , apparently , like many men of various and extensive reading , has a note -book which , as Southey said of his own , is " like an urn under the arm of a river-god ; " and the existence of this note-book is , we imagine , the proximate cause of the two volumes now offered to the public . For the Lover ' s Seat is a mosaic of quotations inlaid in a comparatively small portion of material from the writer ' s own pen , at least if we accept all the anonymous quotations as genuine , and do not suppose them to be put in this form merely as a device of style . Such a device would be a particularly unfortunate one , for tho incessant citation renders the book wearisome for continuous reading , while the
absence of any precise classification prevents it from being available as a repertory of extracts . Another great mistake in the structure of the book is the dimly indicated velleity towards dialogue , in the supposition that the long discourses which form the successive chapters are uttered at the " Lover ' s Seat" either to a pair of lovers or by the lover of the more honourable gender to his companion , for the writer appears to vacillate ia his plan . This ghost of a dramatic intention sometimes appears so ludicrously in company with the very adagio and essay-like style of the -writer , that it would bo extremely easy to satirize the Lover ' s Seat , and make it appear a silly , twaddling book . But " everything has two handles , " and sympathy and veneration for just and noblo sentiments are so much better things than satire , that we prefer holding up to our readers the more admirable aspect of Mr . Di « by ' s work , and selecting from it some passages which will give a
fair idea of its merits . . One habit which we particularly relish in the writer is tho felicity with which he extracts lessons of indulgence and kindliness from Scriptural passages and incidents , which have been far from yielding such honey to the majority of those who make an equally diligent use of the Bible . An example of this occurs in the following passage : — None of us are aerial . Aurolia , in tho old play , protests for her part against such an assumption , and says , — u What would yon have mo do ? IVyo think I ' m tho Dutch virgin that could live Uy th' scent of tlowors ; or that my family Are all descended of cameleona
And can bo kept with air ? " If a poor Imlf-stnrved priest pays his court to an olla podrirta with gusto , shall we sav " iwks Hazlitr , " that lie has no other sentiments in offering his devotion before a . crucifix or in counting his beads ? Wo might as well affirm that Handel was not in earnest when ho sat down to compose a symphony , because ho had at the same timo nerhniis n bottle of cordials in his cupboard . " To fall asleep whllo no losa a person than Ht Paul was preaching , would seem an offonco , in tho estimation of some transcendentaliHts , equivalent with ugly symptoms of final reprobation ; but St . 1 aul himself taught us tlm lesson of humanity in that respect ; ior when tho youth Kutyclu . H , dropping u . slcop during his sermon , foil from aa open . window , tho apostle wont down , embraced the body , and restored him to llfo . Tho UBSJstunts led back tho boy alive und well , " ot conaolati mint non minimo . " Not a word o » w to havoescapeU ivtti nnr about the impropriety of what the lad had done in having aujjkrcd hume \/ to alcep while . Cod s » ok « throwjh his e / totm messenger . Hut further , wo have all of us our fancioH too ; and humanity would teach us tho lubit of respecting them in each other . Sumo dislike to bo reminded of their own atfo . It is n fancy of thotra . Well , Umui , humanity would not b « always reminding them of it , as tt transcendental divino would
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? Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do- not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them , —JEdznburgli Review .
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Anew % r 1856 . } THE I . EAPBK 73 S
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1856, page 735, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2152/page/15/
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